Louis B. Mayer

Roger Mayer, a movie executive who became a forceful advocate for film preservation after inspecting storehouses packed with decaying negatives on an MGM lot, has died. He was 88.

Mayer, who held top positions at MGM and at Turner Entertainment, had a heart attack Tuesday at his doctor's Los Angeles office, said Jeff Lambert, executive director of the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Mayer was a founder and chairman of the San Francisco foundation, which has helped archivists across the U.S. save and restore hundreds of newsreels, documentaries, silent movies, avant-garde presentations and other "orphan" films....

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